"Echo woke up due to a word in background conversation sounding like 'Alexa.' Then, the subsequent conversation was heard as a 'send message' request. At which point, Alexa said out loud 'To whom?' At which point, the background conversation was interpreted as a name in the customer's contact list. Alexa then asked out loud, '[contact name], right?' Alexa then interpreted background conversation as 'right'. As unlikely as this string of events is, we are evaluating options to make this case even less likely."

The rationale behind these recordings

In order to adapt to its owner's style of speaking, Alexa listens and stores recordings of their voice.

The recording activates when a person says the "wake" word, and it stores what you say after that. It is not constantly recording.

These recordings are then stored on Amazon's servers.

"We keep the voice recordings associated with your account to improve the accuracy of the results provided to you and to improve our services. If you delete these recordings, it may degrade your experience using voice features," Amazon says on its website.

To stop the device from listening, you can mute the microphone. However, in doing so, you'll also be unable to send it commands.

How do I listen to my recordings?

Fortunately, there is an easy way to listen to the recordings, if you're curious to know what is being stored on Amazon's servers: